


All Grimmed Out

by Storijophe



Category: RWBY
Genre: Gen, Grimmification (RWBY), They're in MiNd PrIsOn, Trapped, probably some kind of horror or something, sooooo spOoOoOoOky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:01:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24937249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Storijophe/pseuds/Storijophe
Summary: Saw this post, it inspired me to make it
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	All Grimmed Out

**Author's Note:**

> Like said in the summary, wrote this after I saw some cool fan art. Also, any w̸͓̓e̵͂ͅį̶̐r̸̨̈́ḓ̷̎ ̴̝̔t̴͌ͅě̷͍x̸̢́t̵̺͝ you might see is stuff that Ruby is blocking out from her own mind, and anything ~~struck out~~ is there for some attempt at comedy to lighten the mood.
> 
> Probably trash, but here you go.

Ruby watched as her body knelt before Salem. Whatever Cinder had done to her, she was no longer controlling her body; rather, she watched on in horror as the thing that once was her, that sounded, acted, and moved, like her, knelt before the one person she both hated and feared more than anything else in the world.

Salem smiled, watching as the glow in her new Silver Eyed Warrior's eyes slowly dimmed, until all that was left was a dead, stone gray. "Hello, Ruby. I know you're in there, and I know you can hear me, though I'll never hear you again."

Ruby mentally shuddered, at least as much as one can when one is but a thought process. _Salem...what have you done to me?_

"I'm sure you're wondering what I've done to you. I wondered the same thing, too, when it happened to me. See, there's this funny thing about Silver Eyed Warriors. Your mother helped me discover it, actually..." Salem trailed off as she looked into the distance, lost in her memories.

Ruby's...mind? Soul? Whatever it was, it flared in anger. _Salem, I swear to whatever god still watches this sick world, I will kill you._

Salem chuckled, before kneeling before Ruby's body. "You see, the silver eyes you have are, in some way, connected to the God of Light, just like my immortality once was. Perhaps he thought to play one last trick upon this world, or maybe Ozma had children and that's where they come from, I don't particularly care, honestly. The thing about that power, though, is that is prevents you from being destroyed by...oh, what do you and your petty friends call them, Grimm pools? The Grimm pools, let's go with that."

Ruby felt a cold sense of understanding wash over her as she felt another presence next to her in...whatever you call this. _I wonder if this is how Professor Ozpin always feels..._

Salem gently caressed Ruby's body's face. "You see, dear, the Grimm pools aren't destruction incarnate, but **corruption** incarnate. Normal people are turned into Grimm, though that process takes a very, very long time. People like us, however, cursed with a mark of the gods, don't turn into Grimm in the same manner." Salem smiled a gentle, motherly smile.

Ruby felt a strange feeling overcome her as she began to put together what Salem was implying. _Salem_. _Do not say what I think you're about to say. I will make the wrath of a god look gentle._

"You see, dear, people like us? They become Grimm much, much more quickly. Without even destroying our bodies, as if the so-called blessing of a god is really the opening act of our demise. That means that you, Ruby Rose, are going to become like me. A true Grimm." Salem's smile widened as she finished speaking.

"You're going to be join me and your mother, Ruby."

* * *

Ruby had learned the rules of what or wherever she was fairly quickly. If anything, it was nicer than real life; she could imagine whatever she wanted in this place, all without having to worry about silly things like what W̵̛͇̲͐ę̷̞̣̇̋̈͘͠͝i̵̬̖͒̂̄ͅs̶̢̻̜̪̖̓́s̵͍͖̗̽ the others thought of her antics. Or cleaning up after herself, for that matter; who cares where she throws her trash, if her trash just disappears the moment she stops thinking about it?

Of course, something about the two giant windows into a nightmare put a damper on the mood. It was far easier for her to just float formlessly and try to shut down, but Ruby didn't want easy, she wanted out. Also, she couldn't cover them, as whatever she put in front of them either magically had a hole through it if it was big enough, or just became transparent.

The...thing that Salem claimed had been her mother was a shock to behold. It definitely had her face, but the dead look in its eyes and its sinister smile told her the truth. Also the Grimm plates coming off of ḩ̶͚̬̖͍̊͗͌́͘ͅe̵̥͖͆͛͠ŗ̵̝͈͕̪͂̈́̕͜ it, and the deathly pale skin. That was definitely a sign that it wasn't her other. 

She sighed to herself while she munched on a cookie. It was impressively lonely, being alone in wherever she was. She wished she could call her friends or something, but-

_Wait a minute..._

She imagined a scroll into her hand and imagined her mother's phone number onto it. Careful not to look at what that actually was - she had learned early on that if you acknowledged an inconsistency, it was removed, and she didn't know her mother's phone number - she hit call, and hoped for the best.

* * *

Somewhere or someone else, a consciousness which hadn't even attempted existing in over a decade felt a weird sensation, one that it couldn't describe as anything other than receiving a phone call to its mind. Sighing, Summer imagined herself a body and scroll, seeing the scroll ring with an unknown number. _Oh boy, what does my subconscious wish to torture me with now?_

Summer had thought she had escaped the time when her mind would play these games with her, her subconscious thought processes summoning forth something she desired, such as being able to talk to Ruby one last time. She'd learned long ago that attempting to ignore the situation only lead to it growing more and more obvious and intense, which had ended in her being screamed at by the voices of people she knew didn't exist here a few different times.

Summer hit accept and sighed, accepting her fate. "Hello? Who is this?"

* * *

Ruby's eyes widened and she gasped; she had no idea if this was from her imagination or something else, but her mother's voice had just come out of her scroll.

"H-Hey, mom. It's been a while, huh?"

* * *

Summer squeezed her eyes shut in pain and tried to keep her voice steady as she talked with the daughter she knew she'd never see again. _Gods dammit, of course it's Ruby. She even sounds grown up now, because I can't torture myself enough, can I._

"Hey Ruby, long time no see. I would ask why you never called, but since I'm dead and all, that would probably make it a little difficult."

* * *

Ruby laughed nervously, trying not to look out her windows. _Real or not, she's taken this about as well as I'd expect, I guess?_

"Yeah, but at least I get to hear your voice again. It was getting pretty lonely, being in this Grimm void or whatever it is."

* * *

Summer's eyes widened and she turned to her windows, seeing a new figure standing outside. One with dull, gray eyes, black hair that faded to read, and small Grimm bones growing out of it's face. A face that, even after all this time, Summer recognized instantly.

_It's been a while, but I think I can still remember how..._

Summer thought back to all the times she had visited Salem. The real one, trapped behind her own mask of Grimm, the one who had, after it was far too late, learned to value life and death, and had finally understood why what she did was wrong, all this time later. She thought back to the strange twisting feeling, remembered the feeling of being stretched to infinity and snapped back to now, and she grimaced. _Nope, not doing it like that if I can help it._

"Hey, Ruby, can you do me a favor? I want you to imagine a door in front of you, one that can open anywhere. No, don't open it, just imagine it for me, alright, Gemstone?"

Summer imagined her own door, except she imagined hers opened into a vast plane where nothingness and somethingness were separated by the thin veil of acknowledgement, one that resided just behind her "daughter's" eyes.

* * *

"Sure mom, I can do you a favor," Ruby replied, smiling. _I don't care if this is real or not, I'm happy to be able to hear her voice again. If only I could imagine people into here..._

"Uh huh. Do you want me to open it?" Ruby's eyes clouded at the nickname she hadn't heard since before she could remember. "Alright, Mom. Anything for you."

A door appeared before Ruby, one she knew could take her anywhere, or bring someone else from anywhere. She followed her mother's instructions and left it closed, though she decided it was weird to have a door and no wall, and so the door gained a plain white wall around it.

* * *

Summer sighed, grasping the door handle before her. _Here goes nothing, I guess..._

She slowly, hesitantly turned the door handle, both hoping she was wrong and right.

* * *

Ruby gasped as the door handle turned and the door slowly opened, revealing her mother, exactly how she remembered her. She began crying as she slowly walked forward, her scroll disappearing from her hand. "Mom...but...I can't make people show up in here...how...?"

Summer smiled sadly as she walked through the door. "I'm real, Ruby, that's how. Just like you, I fell into one of the pools, and now here I am."

Ruby suddenly dashed forward and tackled her mother in a hug, sobbing into her arms as she finally reunited with the person she had missed most in the world, in the worst possible place.

* * *

Salem set her cup of tea down as she looked back and forth between Ruby and Summer. _It's amazing that they're so similar, even as mother and daughter._

"I'm sorry, Ruby. Your mother and I have tried everything we could think of, and we've had a long time to think, between the two of us. We're not getting out of here, I'm sad to say."

Ruby pouted and stared down into her ~~abomination~~ coffee. "But with the three of us, maybe..."

Summer sighed. "Between the three of us, we've got two silver eyes warriors that are just as likely to destroy all of us as we are to free us, assuming we could activate our eyes, and the most powerful witch in Vytal, except without access to her powers." She wrapped her arm around her daughter, continuing "I know it sucks and I know you want to see her again, but without a miracle, we're not getting out of here."

Ruby blushed and hid her face by sipping at her coffee. Her mother giggled slightly while Salem smiled knowingly. Ruby eventually sat down her coffee before looking at her mother in confusion. "W-Wait a minute! How did you know about that?!"

Summer laughed this time, enjoying the chance to tease her daughter. "Oh please, sweetie, we have a form right now, but at the end of the day we're all just three consciousnesses floating around what we all agreed is probably a coffee table. You're thinking about it so much and so loudly that I can't not know." She grinned. "Besides, I'm your mom. It's my job to know everything."

Ruby looked down at her coffee again as the embarrassment faded and the pain set in, pain which she promptly ignored and tried to push further away. "Well, besides...that...I'm sure there's just something we're not thinking about. I mean, if...Ozpin? Oscar? Ozma? Whatever you call that wizard guy, can manage to create four people that pass on their powers when they die, then I'm sure we can figure out something!"

Salem laughed before explaining, "We generally refer to him as Ozma, because we don't really get many updates about the outside world in here. And he didn't create the maidens, he just likes to take credit for things to make himself seem more scary and mysterious..."

* * *

Ruby sighed as she walked around the space she had begun to all her room. _Good thing I don't have to hear Y̴̱̱̌̈́̎͜a̵̢̧̎͑͒͂n̶̪̱̰̬͛̓̊g̵̳̩͔̐̈́͠͝ anyone yell at me about pacing a hole in my carpet, since I can just imagine it whole again._

"We can't control our silver eyes, and as far as we know, Salem has no access to her magic. We can't get any closer to the windows, we can't break them or cover them, and we can't get so far away we can't see them. Things that we throw at them just disappear...probably why we can't get any closer, really."

Ruby sighed and fell back into the chair which appeared behind her. _This sucks...I just want to s̶̟̻̒͂̚e̸̠̝̍̿͘ȩ̴̪͖́̓̊ ̷̧͚̑̌̆̄m̸̝̾̓̚ý̶̮̥̭ ̶͕́̅͒͝f̸̖͎͛̂̈r̸̞̆į̵̹̓e̵̛͓̳̔̉n̸̦̐̀̋͐̚d̸̳̦̭͍̟̈́̃̄̓͝s̷̢̺̠̖͐̓̓ eat actual cookies again._

Ruby sat and spun in her chair for a while longer, trying to come up with an idea on how to escape the prison within her own mind.


End file.
